June 14, 2011

A Warming Winter Stew For A Very Cold Day.

It is a proper winter's day here on The Farm.  Cold and raining.  Given that I am married to a farmer, I know there is nothing better than a good rain in June.  To celebrate and increase the cosiness quotient, I have decided to put up my favourite winter stew recipe.  I call it my winter stew because it uses lots of winter vegetables.  It is wholesome, hearty and super yummy.

Winter Stew
Winter Stew


I use the same basic recipe for whichever type of meat I choose to use. I have tried lamb, beef and pork, all with excellent results.  I change the seasonings slightly but more about that later...  The recipe below is the lamb version.

Winter Stew

Ingredients:


  • a Soup Pack (or a swede, turnip, onion, celery and some carrots if you can't find one)
  • 1/4 of a cup of flour
  • salt and pepper
  • olive oil for browning
  • 1kg of stewing lamb/hoggett (eg shoulder) cut into 2-3 cm cubes
  • a small tub of tomato paste
  • a litre of beef stock
  • 2 tablespoons of Worcestshire sauce
  • 2 pieces of lemon rind
  • 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 sprigs of rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground corinader
  • 1 smallish cinnamon stick



This stew is the sort of thing that should be slow cooked and is perfect to make on a wintery weekend afternoon.  By dinner time your kitchen will smell fantastic.

OK - first of all pop the meat in a plastic bag with the flour and a shake of salt and pepper.  Coat the meat.  Heat a couple of tablepoons of olive( or canola) oil in a heavy bottomed pot and brown the meat in batches.  Whilst that is being done, chop the contents of the soup pack. Now this is not the time to use your best Masterchef chopping technique.  I say rustic and uneven is the way to go (and not just because I have no cheffy type technique).

See.

Winter Stew
We Love Rustic

After all the meat has been browned, pop the vegies into the same pan (you may need to add more oil) and stir until they have softened a little.  Then shake in any flour left in the bag from the meat, add the stock, tomato paste, sugar, lemon rind and herbs and spices.

A little bit more on the herbs/spices.

Winter Stew
Flavourings

For lamb stew I use what is in the ingredient list.  For beef or pork I do the same except omit the cinnamon, coriander and cumin.  I am sure it would be fine to still use them but I tend to use the Moroccan type flavourings more with lamb for some reason....

Anyway - once everything is in the pot I bring it to the boil and then turn it right down, pop the lid on and simmer it for 2-3 hours. I give it the occasional stir.  Then I serve it with rice, couscous or potatoes. (If I have made the lamb version I put some yoghurt on top too.)  I can't say how yummy it is.

9 comments:

Lisa @ Blithe Moments said...

Mmmm, that looks like brilliant comfort food. I think a stew may be in order.

Makeminemidcentury said...

That stew looks delicious. Usually I try to imagine what a recipe'll taste like, but with all those ingredients, I'm stumped.

And with the surplus of cattle roaming the countryside, I think it's every Australian's duty to start consuming vast quantities of beef.

Sydney Shop Girl said...

Thank you for kindly sharing another recipe from the farm, AFW!

You can bet your bottom dollar it will be on high rotation here in suburban Sydney too.

Take care and stay warm.

SSG xxx

Sydney Shop Girl blog

I'm So Fancy said...

I like "same pot." You had me there. :-)

Emma said...

As I am about to completely lose my kitchen I am sure this recipe shall prove to be extremely useful over the next couple of weeks... I will need to cook most evening meals in the slow cooker! Thanks for another great recipe. x

Bungalowgirl said...

Love your recipes, especially when they contain the word hoggett as that is still word of the month at our place. Thanks so much for the rock update, those walls are gorgeous, what a super way to create some pockets within a massive garden. Love the photo looking back towards the house with all those gum trees. Can't wait til you move in and give us the grand tour. melx

This Mid 30s Life said...

Oh yum!! Lovely. I've eaten my own body weight today but that has still managed to make me hungry.

I've just got into making herb dumplings and popping them on the top of the stew for its last few minutes on the stove. Predictably, my daughter eats the dumplings and leaves the veg.

Enjoy your rain!! x

G said...

Making it today... I have beef in the fridge and was flicking through some of my recipe books last night for inspiration but no success. I should have come straight to The Source. gxo

Tania said...

Mmmm that nice belly warming stew looks yum!

I am liking your blog, came via Down to Earth forum. I am a farmgirl at heart too, although married to a freight train driver instead of a farmer lol.

I was reared on a wheat/sheep farm at Ceduna on the Far West Coast of South Australia. Our farm was 7,500 acres in size and I miss that life dearly.

I look forward to reading your lovely blog further...Oh and I am a new follower.